


Sirius is the New Black

by Rexxy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blow Jobs, Drugs, Exhibitionism, M/M, Masturbation, Prison AU, Remus is a badass in this, Remus is also just misunderstood, Sirius is innocent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-10 01:11:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7824343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rexxy/pseuds/Rexxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius was sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, where he met James (a hunter for the black market) and Remus (a man with a lot of secrets). They're going to have to help each other but what could they possibly achieve?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's not going to be easy

Remus woke up when he felt someone nudging the uninhabited bunk under him. When he looked down, the man in the bright orange prison uniform glanced shyly, if not a little cautiously, up at him but then looked back at what he was doing. “I didn’t mean to wake you, I’m sorry.” Remus raised an eyebrow as the man laughed awkwardly. “I’m Sirius.”

“Sirius… Like the star?”

“Not many people know that.”

“There’s little else to do in prison but read I’m afraid so you’re just going to have to get used to people knowing more than you think, and definitely more than you know.” Remus replied, smirking when he saw the other’s mouth moving while he was looking for a retort, and then close when he gave up. “Oh you were so close too, I could almost hear the cogs turning.”

Sirius huffed. “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” Sirius said, giving his own smirk right back. “Socrates.”

Remus, seemingly unimpressed by Sirius’ small quotation skills, simply shrugged. “It would be more impressive if you could think things like that by yourself instead of reciting it. All that tells me is that you probably come from some snooty rich background that forces philosophy onto their child so they can just spew it out in mid conversation to give the illusion of intelligence, but you haven’t got me fooled, Black. Remus Lupin, but my cellmates just call me Moony.” The name instantly seemed familiar to Sirius but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. Remus held out his hand for Sirius to shake, which Sirius took, looking at Remus with disbelief and awe. Nobody outsmarted Sirius Black, ever.

“Why do they call you Moony?” 

“Well that would be because he’s the top dog, alpha wolf if you will! Moony, what have I told you about scaring the new kid?” A voice came from the doorway.

“He’s not scared are you, Siri? In fact I think we were having a lovely blossoming connection before you came in.” He then directed his attention back to Sirius, who was still staring at him and just taking in his appearance. Remus had light chestnut hair, streaked with a grey that made more of a mature than old look and was curly and looked soft. His eyes were a shade of amber and light brown that Sirius had never seen before and his face had a few scars. One on the left going from his eyebrow to his jawline, and a few over the bridge of his nose, as well as one over his mouth on the right side that Sirius just wanted to kiss. He was still getting that nagging feeling that he had seen Remus before, but just couldn’t remember. “You know, in some cultures it’s considered rude to stare.” 

“Well you’re the best looking thing in here so you’d better get used to it.”

Remus raised an eyebrow as Sirius heard barking laughter behind him and turned to find a man with unruly black hair that made him look like he’d just gotten out of bed. He was also wearing ridiculous looking round glasses and was dark skinned and still laughing slightly when he reached out his hand for Sirius to shake. “I’m James, but this prick just calls me Prongs.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the little shit hunted and shot one of her majesty’s deer.”

“I missed my target it was an accident I swear!”

“Three times? Honestly, Prongs you really are terrible at lying for a criminal. But, well, I guess I’d know considering you refuse to admit you smoked my last fag, you inconsiderate bastard.”

“You make me sound like a horrid roommate.”

“You truly are, Jamie. Don’t let anyone ever take that away from you.”

Sirius looked confused for a minute. “I didn’t know the queen owned deer.”

“She does when they roam around in her gardens.” Remus said, looking at James disapprovingly.

James just shrugged. “It was a special order, and it was going to be worth an awful fucking lot. You’d be surprised how much royal deer goes for Sirius, honestly there are some real weirdoes out there who’d pay too much for that kind of crap. They think it makes them classy or some shit, I don’t know.”

“What James is saying is that he runs a very large part of the black market. A hunter for hire, so to speak. And a very expensive one at that.”

James nodded then put his full attention on Sirius. “So, Sirius, what are you in for?”

“Well, I didn’t actually do anything-“

“-oh yes I’m sure. We’re all here because we’re innocent, isn’t that right, James?”

“That you are Remus. Carry on.”

Sirius scowled but continued anyway. “Well, I think I should start off by saying my family aren’t the best of people, and they certainly don’t like me. They basically run their own criminal organisation, and it’s a pretty big thing. They earn money by owning and running a drugs cartel. I didn’t fit in very much, so I was a good target. I basically told them they could stuff it, and they just couldn’t risk me getting their information out, so they packed my apartment full of cocaine when I was gone and when I came home, I was instantly arrested and put here, not even a trial. They’re very powerful people, but somehow I know I’d rather be here than out there, it might be a little more safe.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Remus supplied, sitting up and then getting off the bed and standing in front of Sirius. “There’s more criminal influence here than you could possibly imagine. If your family is as powerful as you seem to think, then I’d watch your back here.”

“Are you going to get me killed Remus?” Sirius asked, not fazed by the intimidating aura Remus was giving off.

“Me? I have no reason to want you dead. In fact, you’re rather appealing to me if anything.” Remus stepped closer to Sirius and traced his fingers over his chest, then pressed their bodies flush together to whisper into Sirius’ ear. “I promise not to tell that you’re from the House of Black if you don’t want me to. I won’t even tell anyone that you never left from choice but because you’re gay and they found out, I swear. I give you my word that nobody will find out from me that you’re here because you took the blame for your brother’s first murder.” Remus then stepped back and kissed Sirius on the cheek and grinned at the now frightened and surprised face of the other man.

“How did you-“ Sirius was stopped by Remus’ finger on his lips.

“It’s not important. The fact is I know, so it can’t be guaranteed that other people don’t. You need to be safe, and since you’ve very luckily landed yourself in my cell, me and James are going to help you.”

“Why are you going to help me?”

“I have my reasons Sirius.”

Sirius just nodded. “Why are you in here?”

Remus took a minute before responding. “I’m… You don’t need to know that. All that matters is that I am, and I’m going to help you, alright?”

They were interrupted by a sound from the doorway, which came from a man loudly coughing into his hand. “Remus?” He asked, and Remus took himself away from Sirius immediately, and suddenly changed everything about himself. His expression became more stoic and he stood up straight, but moved slowly as he turned and walked a leisurely pace to the man. The man murmured to Remus and put something into Remus’ hand but Sirius couldn’t see because Remus had his back facing him. 

“I’ll make sure she knows, Frank.” He said in a stiff tone, but then turned angry as he carried on. “Oh, and tell that fucking worthless piece of shit you share a cell with he’s got two days, two fucking days before he regrets ever coming up to me.”

The man just nodded and walked away quickly, leaving Sirius still and slightly scared, and James chuckling. Remus just turned back, calm as ever and handed James a cigarette, then sauntered up to Sirius, took his hand, and opened it to put a cigarette in. “Don’t spend it all at once.” He then winked and walked over to James and sat next to him on the bottom bunk. “Look at him, James, he’s still so… innocent..”

“For a Black, I guess you’re right, it is unusual.”

Sirius looked accusingly at Remus. “I thought you said nobody would know.”

Remus shrugged. “James doesn’t count, I thought that was obvious. You can trust James. He, for all his faults, is a good man on the inside. Very deep on the inside. Buried beneath countless layers of deceit and lying and killer instinct and-“

“Okay he gets the point I’m the scum of society, but I promise to help you Sirius. I swear on the life of my lovely Lily.”

“Lily?” Sirius asked, still just standing with the cigarette in his closed hand. 

Remus rolled his eyes. “Please god, don’t get him started. Lily is the red headed guard that absolutely despises James.”

“Despise is a strong word, I prefer the term misunderstands.”

“She once pepper sprayed him because he asked her if, and I quote, ‘the curtains-“

“Yeah alright, so we’re currently not in the best stage of our relationship, but we’re getting there, she just needs time and sweet sweet loving.”

“If you say so, Prongs.” Remus said then got up again and walked over to Sirius. “You’ll want to put that away. Don’t want Warden Riddle catching you with contraband, it won’t be pretty.”

“Right.” Sirius pocketed the cigarette and smiled. “Thank you, I guess, for the help and the smoke.”

“It was my pleasure.” Remus said and winked at Sirius again, then took his hand and squeezed it before walking over to his own top bunk and picking up a book he had been planning on continuing.

“This isn’t so bad.”


	2. Confrontation

It had been a week since Sirius had gotten sent to prison and he wasn’t finding the experience all too unpleasant. He and James had seemingly hit it off straight away and (much to the annoyance and disapproval of Remus) often played stupid pranks on the other inmates to keep themselves entertained. Sirius had also found a very amusing past time of annoying Remus at any given opportunity, much to the clear surprise of the other inmates. Remus was a very big deal around the prison it seemed, with people coming up to him pretty much all the time and offering him things or asking to make a deal with him. Sirius didn’t know why but every time he asked Remus or James they just said ‘the less you know the better’ so eventually he just gave up asking and accepted it. 

Sirius also found that Remus was also quite mischievous like himself and James, but was subtler about it. He’d come up with great ideas that James and Sirius carried out, and cheered them on from the side-lines. He also found that Remus was like him in more ways than one, when on his fourth day, Remus snuck over to his bed early in the morning and kissed him right on the mouth with no warning. It was a shock to Sirius, but couldn’t have been fully unexpected, considering the way he’d been mercilessly teasing the other man in hopes of garnering some sort of reaction, and he’d gotten exactly the one he wanted. Granted, it was because James had gotten them some prison made alcohol (Sirius didn’t ask) that he so gladly called ‘Moonshine’ just to annoy Remus. They hadn’t gone beyond that one kiss, and perhaps some innuendos in conversation, but he was happy to build up something with Remus. It’s not like they didn’t have any time there. They weren’t official yet, but Sirius was sure as hell determined.

It wasn’t until his first week was up that he had encountered any sort of trouble at all, in fact. He was in the shower just before it was time for them to go to bed, because everyone was settling down so the bathroom was nearly empty. It’s not so much that he minded other people watching him shower (though it wasn’t one of his favourite past times) it was just that he hated having to see all the other men naked and wanted to avoid it as much as possible. They mostly weren’t particularly attractive men, and if he saw one of the few that were actually toned up, he didn’t want his boy to betray him. He’d heard of the kind of things they did to his sort in prisons and he was definitely not going to subjected to it if he could help it. It just wasn’t his lucky day.

When he had his front facing the wall, he felt a pair of arms go around him and was about to call for help before some fabric was stuffed into his mouth. He was harshly turned around to face three strange looking men. They parted however for a fourth, a man Sirius had never seen around before. “I hear you’re Lupin’s bitch? Must be an easy life for you, hm?” Sirius struggled but the arms held him tighter, making him wince. “He can’t protect you all of the time, you know?” 

“I think you’ll find I can.” Came Remus’ voice from behind the wall blocking the stalls. “Honestly, Siri, I go to the loo for two minutes and you get yourself ambushed. What am I going to do with you? Let him go, Snape.” 

“I shall do no such thing! You might have everyone else around here fooled, Lupin, but I know you have no real power. Not here. What’s to stop me cutting both of you up right here, right now?” 

“You know what’s stopping you, and if you threaten me or him one more time that’s going to become a reality, so I suggest you start choosing your battles more carefully.”

Snape grumbled something but signalled for the man holding Sirius to let him go. Sirius was pushed to the floor on his knees before the man walked to Snape’s side, and Sirius immediately got the material out of his mouth. Snape himself then walked up to Remus and got a little too close for anyone’s liking. “This isn’t your fight, Remus. If you just let me have him, I can-“

“You can fuck off Severus. I’m not going to let you hurt him, you sadistic little freak, so just go before I decide to make this matter something of my upmost concern.” 

There was a glaring match between the two for a few minutes before Snape finally gave up and walked off with a huff, his little following close behind. Remus waited until he was gone then rushed over to Sirius and knelt down next to him. “What did I tell you about being careful, are you alright?”

Sirius nodded and got up with Remus’ help and together they dried him off and got him dressed again. “I’m sorry I let them do that, Remus. I was just caught off guard, and I wasn’t expecting anybody to do that to me again any time soon so I didn’t prepare-“

“Again? Sirius why didn’t you tell me? Who did it? What did they do? Are they still-“

“Not in here, Remus calm down. It happens sometimes, on dangerous jobs. It’s all right though I mean I only got too overwhelmed once. It was a deal we had made with the Lestrange’s. It was my first job, I was 17. All prepped and ready to go. Father was so proud of me, so I just went with it, you know? It didn’t go exactly as planned. They tried to bargain and when I refused they took their weapons out but on the plus side I didn’t die so it was only something I could learn from, right?”

“No. Don’t do that. Don’t you ever talk about something like that like it’s okay. You shouldn’t let anybody hurt you, it’s not right and it certainly shouldn’t be done in the name of business.” Remus said, a tightness in his voice that Sirius was eager to find the reason behind.

“Remus? Have you ever been hurt because of business?”

Remus sighed and shook his head. “Sirius how many times do I have to tell you?”

“I know, I know, but it seems a bit unfair that you know everything about me and I know next to nothing about you.”

“That may be how it seems to you, but trust me, you don’t want to get involved in what I am, or what I do, so it’s better that you just stay in the dark. All you need to know about me is that I will protect you, okay? Now let’s get back, James will be worried.”

Sirius frowned but followed after Remus anyway. They were in silence until they got back to cell, where Remus headed over to James’ side of the cell and took the top bunk. There were two free top bunks, so he often switched between the two. Tonight, instead of staying up and talking to his cellmates, Remus just got dressed for bed and turned his back to the room when he laid down. 

“Are you mad at me?” Sirius asked, to which James was about to respond before Sirius held up his hand. “Not you Prongsie. Remus, what did I do?”

Remus just pretended not to hear him and stayed still, acting like he was sleeping. James shrugged and Sirius just rolled his eyes and went to bed himself, watching Remus to see if he’d turn around until he fell asleep.

………………………

When Sirius and James woke up, Remus was already gone. “James, where’s Remus?”

James looked at him with a confused, tired expression then looked on the top bunk to find that Remus was in fact missing. “That depends. Did something happen yesterday?”

“I got jumped in the shower but Remus stopped them.”

“Fuck.” Muttered James.

“What?”

“Who was it?”

“Snape, I think his name was.”

“Fuckity fuck, we have to find him.”

“Snape?”

“No, Remus. Perhaps both.”

“Why?” 

James considered that for a minute then turned back to Sirius. “Maybe you should stay here. I can go and find him on my own. Just… don’t leave this room, yeah? I’ll be back soon, I just need to sort some things out.”

“Why won’t anybody tell me anything?” Sirius asked, annoyed.

“Just leave it, all right? Stay here.” And then James was out of the door and racing towards where he knew Remus would be. 

Sirius wanted to stay, he really did, except he actually really didn’t, so not two minutes after James was gone Sirius was following him. James ran through countless corridors until they were in a part of the prison Sirius had not yet dared venture to. He then sharply turned a corner and Sirius followed, only to be stopped short by James, who was stood facing and waiting for him. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“How did you-“

“I’m a hunter Sirius. Requires somewhat decent sensory input. I could hear you. You’re not a very good criminal at all, it’s embarrassing really.”

“Whatever, weren’t you going to get Remus?”

“I was but then you started following me. You’re like a fucking puppy all the time when it comes to him, just constantly craving his attention.”

“I am not like a puppy!” Sirius said petulantly.

“Yes you are, little Padfoot… Hey!”

“No, you’re not calling me Padfoot, that’s so lame.”

“And Prongs isn’t? Please if I have to suffer you do too.”

“Fair enough. What now then? You’re just going to leave Remus?”

“I can’t talk with you about this he’d have my head.”

“I think I can handle it.”

“No you can’t, you’ll- Remus!”

Sirius turned around to find Remus walking to them. “James! What do you want?”

“You weren’t there when we got up this morning!” Sirius said accusingly. Remus looked at James with a raised eyebrow and James just shrugged in return.

“If I didn’t tell you where I was going it was none of your concern. I was simply in the bathroom if you must know.”

“Oh.” Sirius said, a little disappointed. “I thought you were doing something dangerous.”

“Why? James what did you tell him?”

“Nothing, I swear I just said I was going to find you and he ran after me. He’s a funny little one our Padfoot isn’t he?”

“Padfoot? I like that, rolls off the tongue.” Remus said laughing and walking side by side with James to the yard.

“No. Please anything but Padfoot it’s so-“

“I think it’s endearing.” Remus said, winking at Sirius, who just huffed and ran up so he was walking next to them. “Oh don’t sulk, Pads, it doesn’t suit you. How about I make it up to you, hm? A blowjob after lunch? A spanking before bed?”

“Did I miss something here?” James asked, chuckling at Sirius’ blushing face, only getting redder by the second.

“I wish.” Sirius muttered, to which both Remus and James snorted.

“Won’t take much I’m sure.” James said, to which Remus made a scandalised noise.

“You make me sound like the prison whore, Jamie. Absolutely preposterous!”

“Randy Remus they call him Sirius. That’s what he was before he came here if you must know, a prostitute.”

“Oh yes slut of the city, that’s me. Tenner an hour.” Remus and James laughed together.

“What could I get from a cigarette and half a tub of hair gel?” Sirius asked.

“For you dear? Anything.” Remus said and made a show of grabbing Sirius while they were walking and snogging him lewdly and loudly while not stopping with his leisurely stroll. James made faux disgusted sounds and then shook his head when Remus pulled away and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. 

Sirius was giddy from the kiss but didn’t let it show all too much. Instead, he dawdled along with the other two until they reached the yard. Once they crossed the threshold however, they were approached by a very angry looking Snape with two of his friends from yesterday. Remus instantly stopped being cheerful and his body movements became stiff and he stood straight. “James, take Sirius back.”

“I am a grown man, Remus, I can handle this Jerk!”

Remus turned to him with a surprising amount of anger in his expression. “Go back to the cell or I will force you, and I don’t want to do that, Sirius.”

“No.” 

Remus made a frustrated sigh and gave James a nod, at which point James started to forcefully pull him away, but he fought back. “Please don’t do this, Sirius.”

“Let me go, James. I want to see.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I fucking do, let me go!” Sirius shouted, getting the attention of a few inmates, at which point James just sighed. “Alright, but know I tried to avoid this.”

“Avoid what?”

James pinched Sirius’ shoulder and neck joint and he instantly fell limp in James’ arms, who just picked him up and insisted to the guards along the way that he was tired and in need of rest so he was taking him to his bed. 

Meanwhile, in the yard, Remus was resisting the strong urge to throw a punch to Snape’s face. “What do you want now? I believe this matter can be put behind us, can’t it?”

“What happened to my other two?”

“What happened to your men is not my problem. Perhaps if you were as powerful as you think you are, they would not have come to any harm”

“What did you do to them?” Snape asked, trying fiercely not to shout in rage. “I know it was you. Black’s really not worth the trouble.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Remus casually slipped a cigarette from his pocket and then a battery lighter before putting it to his lips and lighting it.

“You will pay for this, Lupin. I’m going to tell the guards that you’ve done something with them.”

“Role call was this morning, Sev. The guards know exactly who’s missing, and who isn’t.”

“You’ve offed them haven’t you? You filthy little-“

“Now, now there’s no need for that, is there? You don’t even have any evidence against me you’re just going off assumptions.”

“Nobody ever has evidence against you, but you’ve always done it.”

“I can assure you, for the purpose of our business relationship, that I have not killed them. If I did have a part in their disappearance from this sector, I can promise they’re not dead.”

“What did you do?”

“Me? I’m innocent as they come. I had no hand in their doings, and I feel I should remind you that you have come to blame me for a reason. I think you should perhaps think again before mindlessly accusing me of messing with your affairs, because next time it might just not be one of your boneheads. Is that understood?”

Snape spluttered. “How dare you- I-I-”

Remus rolled his eyes and stepped forward, blowing smoke into Snape’s face before pulling out his hand and putting the cigarette out on his wrist, making Snape wince but try not to show pain in front of Remus, as feeble an attempt as it was. Snape’s men went stiff behind him as if trying to intimidate, but Remus paid no mind to them. “Stay away from Sirius Black, or I swear Severus Snape, you’re next on my list. If that means I have to go through every singe man in here to get to you, so be it, but I find that extremely unlikely.” He then stepped back and turned away. “I suggest you go and see your friends in the infirmary, Snape. I’m sure they eagerly await your apology.” He then walked off back to the cell, leaving Snape dumbfounded in the yard. 

How was he going to explain this to James and Sirius?


	3. Remus' Story

When Remus got there, James was in his own bed, and Sirius was tucked under his own covers, seemingly sleeping through the morning. Remus feared that Sirius would put up a fight, but he had to stop him from doing something stupid. Sirius was known for doing stupid things, and Remus knew this. With a resigned sigh, he climbed into his own bunk, deciding he wasn’t all too ready for breakfast right now. “I’ll look after him, you go eat, and bring him something for when he wakes up, okay?”

James nodded and went off on his own, leaving Remus with an unconscious Sirius. He laid back on his bed and thought about how he had ever gotten himself in this situation…

It started when he woke up in his apartment one Saturday morning, after his routine coffee, he had set down to read a newspaper and catch up with the day’s events. It was a Saturday after all, his day off. Then the phone rang. Not his mobile, or even landline. Oh no, THE phone rang. Sighing, he got up and went to his jacket, fishing the phone out before answering. “I don’t work Saturdays.” 

“Just listen, you’re Remus, right? Fenrir’s boy?”

“I am nobody’s boy, sir, and I’d thank you to remember it.”

“But you are him aren’t you?”

“That wholly depends on what you want.”

“I have a job for you.”

“Either you’re deaf or insanely ignorant because I believe I just said I don’t work Saturdays.”

“Trust me, you’ll want to take this job, I’ll make it worth your while.”

“The fact you’re implying I need any sort of money is not the greatest way to start off this offer.”

“Please hear me out-“

“I don’t. Work. Saturdays.” Remus said, rather testily then hung up. He put the phone on silent and put it back in his coat pocket and sat back down in his chair with his newspaper. He sat reading for 15 minutes, before he saw a red light on his wall that he recognised all too well and closed his newspaper with a sigh. He put it down on the chair and went to his room, getting a long heavy box out from under his bed. With very little effort, he picked it up and threw it on his bed, opening it and taking out the small gun from the corner, then screwed on the silencer and put it down on the bed. He then looked down at his favourite thing in the whole world and ran his fingers over it delicately. “It’s going to be one of those days I guess.” He then shut the box and locked it, grabbing the handle and carrying it with him. He then went into his wardrobe and pulled out the back with his free arm and picked up a full to the brim and heavy back pack, which he slung on his back before going to the bathroom and climbing out the window and up the fire escape to the roof. 

Once he was there, he set the bag and box down and then opened the box once again, looking at the contents almost lovingly. The metal was cold against his skin when he plucked the parts out and assembled the rifle in record time, having been doing so every day since he was about 16. Ever since Fenrir had adopted him as a child (after his parents had been killed in a gun fight) he had done nothing but teach Remus how to defend himself. It started off teaching him how to use his body to fight, and then working up his muscles so he had as much strength as agility. He then moved onto guns when Remus was about 9, adding to the training he was already getting, and by the time Remus was 15, he had been into the stage where he had to learn how to assemble the guns themselves, so by the time he was 20 he was ready for his fate. He had been brought up as a weapon, so that’s what he became. For money. 

Currently, he was 24 and already had 4 years to make a name for himself in the industry. In just 4 short years, he had left Fenrir’s nest and made himself more money than he could count by killing people of the same measure. He never asked questions (didn’t have to more often than not, because people told him their stories to try to relieve themselves of some guilt) and he never looked back. After his first assigned kill, it was easy as taking candy from a baby. His aim and combat were unmatched in his field and gods help anyone who had the gall to insult him. Like this particular client.

He laid down on the concrete roof and aimed his weapon to where he had calculated the angle from his room and got the target in his scopes, a very amateur marksman by any account. He obviously didn’t spend the money he earned on upgrading his equipment and Remus would have felt sorry for him, but unfortunately for this man, Remus didn’t care much for anyone that wasn’t himself, which was good for his job but his social life not so much. He did have friends, but they were very few, considering he needed to socialise with people who wouldn’t try to kill him, and there were very few people who would rather see him alive. He had business allies, of course. He had many of those. Remus found early on in his career that it was better to work for favours than for money. As it was, he was living in the flat he was because the owner of the block had put Remus on a job, and Remus pretty much had access to anything he wanted. That’s why he was so famous, because he had the nerve and because he was good enough to deserve it. When he pulled the trigger, the bang echoed from the walls but he could see through his scope that the rooftop silence was a necessary sacrifice. 

With the pest taken care of, he grabbed his bag and the box, hiding behind the pillar opposite the rooftop door. He speedily put away the rifle and loaded his silenced pistol. After a few minutes, he heard the click of a door and sighed before shaking his head and popping up to instantly shoot and kill the first three men that stormed onto the roof. The fourth seemed a bit more experienced, with body armour on, but Remus was on him in seconds, his arms twisting his neck until he heard it click and the man fell, and did the same to the other two guards. He then opened the door and called down through. “Are you going to come and see me yourself or keep sending your little soldiers to fight for you. I’m judging by the style and complete incompetence of your men I’m dealing with a Black, yes? I can assure you that there is nothing I have that you will want.”

Then, a boy came around the corner and walked up the corridor to Remus and they both went outside to see each other better. When they got there, the boy looked around at his dead men and smiled. “You really are the best, then?”

“Truly Madly Deeply, what do you want? You’re Regulus right? I’m assuming so because you look about 15 and if I’m right Regulus is the name of their youngest.”

Regulus nodded. “Yes, but my family doesn’t know and they can’t find out.”

“They’re not going to miss their soldiers?”

“They were for hire, and so was that assassin that you shot. He was supposed to be your second best after you eliminated most of them to climb higher in the crime ring. You truly are the most powerful man in all of Britain right now, possibly the world.”

“I have a lot of criminal access yes, I can do and have whatever I want. So what makes you think I’m going to help you?”

“Well, I’m guessing you’re quite bored of choosing cases that just involve killing, so I offer a more interesting alternative. Something to change it up a little. As you probably know, an initiation with the Blacks involves killing someone from another crime group and I killed my first last Saturday, but I got caught. The only reason I’m not in custody right now is because my brother took the fall, Sirius. He wants out of the whole lifestyle but our parents say they’ll kill him if he goes. They already forbid him to come into the house because of one of his lifestyle choices.”

“And that is?”

“None of your concern.”

“It is if you want my help.”

“He’s gay, and they didn’t approve of that, okay? And he’s going to prison, and I need you to stop him being killed. There are groups there that would see him dead for business. You’ll know them when you see them, the sleazy type. Most will want to torture him for family secrets or make him suffer for getting them into prison or simply from being born into the wrong family. Please, I’ll get you anything you want. Anything I have you can have, just don’t let my parents know.”

Remus considered this. “So you want me to be his body guard in a prison full of psychos? I like a challenge, how long is the sentence?”

“Our lawyers chalked it up to 15 years, but that’s the lowest we can go considering he was caught red handed, but we can put him in a prison with a crooked warden, I think you worked for him once… “

“Riddle? It’s a sly operation you’ve got going here, and I like you Reggie. Not in the gay way don’t worry, too young for my tastes, but I’m going to pull a Billy Flynn here and say I’ll do it. You owe me, but I decide when and what you give me, understood?”

“Yes, thank you so much it means a lot-“

“It means nothing to me so don’t go all emotional on me now, I just want a change of scenery and I don’t want you getting caught either. That would ruin the whole thing, right?”

“Yeah.” Remus smiled and the next thing he knew, Regulus was hugging him. It was a completely foreign feeling to Remus, because Fenrir never bothered with affection beyond telling him he had good aim and giving him a rough slap on the back. Without really thinking about it, he gave Regulus a squeeze before he pulled away and smiled own at the boy. “I’ll keep your brother safe, I promise. When will he get sent there?”

“A few months.”

“I’ll go there in a few weeks, acclimatise myself before he gets there. I’ll see you round, yeah?”

“Hopefully not.” They both chuckled at that before Remus picked up his things and went back down his fire escape. He didn’t know why, but he had felt sorry for the boy. Perhaps the fighting instinct in him to protect his brother had struck Remus as brave and made him want to help, or maybe it was the lack of his own family that helped Regulus relate to his abusive one. Neither had wanted to be born into it, especially Sirius, so he would help. Besides, he had a debt to pay...


	4. You've got a visitor

When Sirius woke up, the first thing he noticed was that Remus was sat on the end of his bed, cross-legged and reading quietly, as if it was a normal thing to do. “Why are you on my bed?”

“I was waiting for you to come around so that I could talk to you.”

“There’s not much to talk about. I tried to defend myself and you got James to fucking Vulcan grip me or whatever. You don’t want any hard feelings, I’m guessing?”

“Sirius, you have a 15 year sentence, you can’t be causing trouble in the first week.”

Sirius groaned into his pillow. “I am a grown man and I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

“You’re not acting like a grown man, and until you do, I’ll not treat you like one.”

Sirius sat up and faced Remus. “Why do you care so much? What’s in this for you? Why are you protecting me?”

“You’re just worth protecting, I guess.” Remus smiled charmingly and honestly, and Sirius felt his heart beat slow down a little. 

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Looking at me like I’m worth something. You don’t know the things I’ve done.”

“Can’t be worse than my actions, I’m certain.”

“Well you seem pretty at peace with yourself.”

“There wasn’t room for learning how to care between training and practise.”

Sirius shrugged. “I had to be self taught if that helps matters. I hate it, you know? The whole charade that I have to keep up for the sake of my fucked up family. It’s a load of bollocks if you ask me.”

“What would you do instead? You’d make sturdy house wife.”

“I would, wouldn’t I?” They both laughed at that until they looked at each other and the laughter faded slowly and Sirius’ line of sight darted to Remus’ lips as he licked his own. They leaned in, and just before their lips touched, James walked in.

“Whoa, hey, save it for later boys. Sirius I brought you stuff from the kitchen, and you better appreciate it because it’s hard to smuggle food!” James then took a small pot from his pocket and threw it at Sirius who caught it instinctively and read the label.

“Strawberry surprise. What’s the surprise?”

“Food poisoning.” Remus replied, straight faced.

“Hey, I had to work to get that out! Have that or nothing.” James said petulantly. Sirius chuckled and put the tub on the cabinet at the end of the bed. 

"I appreciate it James, considering you’re the one who knocked me out cold.”

“That was one time, when are you going to let it go?”

Sirius huffed and James and Remus laughed before Sirius crossed his arms. “Don’t encourage him, Remus! We were so about to get it on before he ruined it!”

“I was bringing you food! Next time I knock you out I’ll leave you to fuck yourself into good health, shall I?”

“I would be eternally grateful thank you Prongs.” Sirius smiled and turned to Remus was who was doing the face he did when he was trying not to laugh. He minutely flared his nostrils and pursed his lips to try and stop them from turning upwards into a smile. Sirius took the opportunity to grab Remus’ waist and dig in until the other man burst and started laughing hysterically while trying but not really trying to push the other off. Sirius eventually tackled Remus to his bed and continued his assault.

James ignored them for a good five minutes and turned his attention to the bottom of the top bunk, until the sounds of laughter stopped and he turned to find them quite leisurely snogging as if there wasn’t another person in the room. They’d never done that before. “Have I missed something? When did that start happening?” He said, gesturing between the two.

“About two minutes ago.” Remus replied, his hand quite firmly on Sirius’ arse. “It’s not like we can do much else is there, Jamie?”

“There’s plenty to do- STOP MASSAGING HIS ARSE YOU PERVERT! Thank you, as I was saying there’s lots to entertain us here. There’s books, conversations, a common room with a TV-“

“That plays constant football or cooking shows.” Remus supplied.

“The point is there’s more to do that this.”

“We’re going to be here for years though James and Nigella can only entertain me with pastries and wine for so long.” Sirius whined, still on top of Remus, and not looking like he had any inclination to move.

“That’s not my problem. Get off Moony and go do something productive. Go use the communal phone and dial up a sex line to get your kicks.”

Sirius wobbled his bottom lip then clung to Remus dramatically. “Remus, he’s being mean to me! Tell him to go fuck himself.”

“James, surely we can snog. There’s nothing wrong with snogging it’s not like we’re going to be doing it all the time.”

“Wait, I thought you two were…”

“I’m his distraction. We’re not actually a couple James. That would be like me saying you and Prewitt are a couple because of that one time-“

“That’s different!”

“How is that different?”

“Well you’re both gay for starters. My sexuality belongs purely and solely to a one, Miss Evans.”

Sirius looked up at Remus in shock. “You’re actually gay?”

“Well I should have thought that was rather obvious.”

“I thought it was just because we’re in prison.”

“I can assure I’m gay both in and out of captivity, Dear.”

“I am right here.” James said. “Can the flirting not subside until I go shower or something?”

“So could I be your… Prison wife?” Sirius asked, trailing patterns on Remus’ chest.

“I suppose you could, yeah. It would make it easier for me to keep you entertained if I was fucking you exclusively.”

“Right that’s it, I’m leaving. I’ll see you both in about two hours. I’m going to play cards with Longbottom, not that either of you two are listening aaaand you’re snogging again okay bye.” James hurriedly scurried from the room, making Sirius and Remus chuckle.

“It would never work, would it?” Sirius asked. 

“Oh I don’t know. I’d say after 15 years in prison we could survive anything together. But that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves, isn’t it?”

“You think we could last 15 years?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I can promise you, come hell or high water, I will not let anyone harm you here.”

Sirius smiled and moved up to kiss Remus lightly. “It would have been nice to know that you were gay from the first time we met. I would have made a move ages ago.”

“That’s because you’re a right tart.” 

“Well you’ve got me there.”

“We can’t actually have sex right now though, we’ll easily get caught. We’ll have to wait till lights out.”

“I know. I’m not a complete idiot.”

“Arguable.” 

“Hey!” He proceeded then to tickle Remus again until they were interrupted by a guard clearing his throat and they instantly sprung apart. 

“Mr Black, you have a visitor.”

“Who?”

“You’ll find out when you get there.”

Sirius looked to Remus for guidance and when he received a nod, walked off with the guard through the hallways until they ended up at the visiting room where there were several desks in stalls along a glass wall with phones on the sides of the stalls to talk through. He was led to the end one and almost gasped when he saw his visitor. He sat down immediately and picked up the phone. “Regulus?! What are you doing here? Do your parents know?”

“Firstly, they’re our parents, and no they don’t. I came to see you because you’re my brother and I wanted to see if you were okay. I heard a man called Snape cornered you?”

Sirius smirked and sat back. “Well he tried, but he was no match for my wife. Well I guess I’m more the wife, I think. I’m not sure how that really works. If he proclaimed me the wife does that mean he’s the prison husband? I’ve never heard that term before though…”

“You’re with another prisoner? Sirius do you not understand how dangerous that is?”

“He won’t hurt me Reggie, he’s lovely. A bit stiff sometimes but once you get to know him he’s just a big teddy bear. Soft as they come.”

“Sirius, you’ve been here a week how have you managed to get yourself claimed already?”

“That’s the thing, he doesn’t treat me like I’m his bitch, like he owns me, he just makes sure I’m okay. He’s brilliant. I don’t think I could’ve got luckier.” Sirius smiled with genuine happiness and Regulus resisted the urge to reach through the glass and punch the idiot.

“I hate to burst your bubble but it just doesn’t work like that. He’s probably sizing you up or something.” Regulus sighed. How could this happen? What had happened to Lupin? He was supposed to make sure Sirius was okay, to protect him. That was his job. Now, Sirius had been taken by a random prisoner and developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome. “Maybe I can sort something out. What’s his name?”

“Remus Lupin.” Regulus stilled and his eyes widened, but Sirius hadn’t noticed, because he was too busy day dreaming. “Even his name is beautiful. He’s gorgeous though, honestly! He’s muscular, but not to a gross level, and agile and tanned from too much time in the yard and he’s got the most adorable curly hair and mesmerising amber eyes. I’ve never seen anything like him in my life. I would say he’s my type but I don’t think I can put him in a category with anybody else. I didn’t know how much I could want a person until I saw him. He’s so protective and funny. Oh Reg wait until I get out and you can meet him!”

Regulus was still in slight shock but managed to process Sirius’ words. “Sirius you can’t—Not Remus Lupin!”

“Oh not you too? The whole fucking prison is terrified of him, what could he possibly have done? Oh god he’s not one of those… you know… rapists is he?”

‘Oh god no nothing like that he’s… I can’t tell you.”

“Figures.” Sirius said with a sigh. “Is there an ulterior motive to you being here or did you just want to check up on little old me? Cause I’m perfectly fine. Spiffing in fact.”

“Listen you can’t be in a relationship with that man. He’s too dangerous.”

“I am a grown man and I can fuck whoever I want! How dare you judge him because of whatever he’s done? Reg we both know why I’m here, and we both know that it doesn’t make you a bad person. He might have made some mistakes or even done things he possibly regrets doing, but that’s not who he is. He’s sarcastic and snarky, yes, but he’s also funny and caring and most of all accepting. He doesn’t care that I’m a Black. He’s perfect to me.”

Because that’s his job, Regulus thought, but seeing how passionately his brother defended the man kept it to himself. “You’re right, I shouldn’t judge anybody, It’s my fault you’re here and I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“And I won’t. I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to get out of here safe and sound. You have to be safe too though. I'm not going to be there for along time, and I can’t stop them from hurting you so you have to learn to protect yourself and I mean it.” It was very rare for Sirius to show maturity, but if there was one thing he was ever genuinely serious about, it was keeping his brother out of harms way. He had always done his best to do right by Regulus and always would.

“I know how to protect myself, and I will continue to do so until you’re out.” He then paused and looked at Sirius with a little regret and guilt. “I have to go before it gets suspicious to mother and father but I’ll visit you every chance I get, okay?”

“Yeah I understand.” Sirius smiled kindly. “Thanks.”

Regulus nodded and put the phone on the hook before waving and walking away and then Sirius was led away by the guard that brought him and taken back to his cell, where Remus pointedly was not. Sirius frowned and settled down on the bunk on top of his own, knowing that it was the first place Remus would go when he got back. He grabbed one of Remus’ books from the nightstand and started absentmindedly flicking through the pages but soon got bored of that and got off the bunk to dig around the room. He looked through Remus’ things first, only finding cigarettes, novels and other every day things, so he moved over to James’ bunk and searched underneath, where he found a magazine that James probably wanted to keep secret if he wanted Evans to think his desires truly belonged to her. After closing the cell door quietly, he hopped right back into Remus’ bunk and opened up the magazine, which had way more things to look at that Remus’ stupid novels. Unfortunately though, they were all women, and Sirius found himself looking at the props more that the people. And the pages were sticky.

He looked through the entire thing twice and then huffed and threw it back over to James’ bunk, where it landed on top of the pillows. He grunted from frustration and boredom and turned his head into the pillow, only to find it smelled like Remus. He inhaled deeply through his nose and imagined himself in a different position, his face forcibly pushed into the pillow while Remus held him down and fucked him. The mere thought of such a situation forced a certain part of his body to start paying attention. He closed his eyes and made himself confortable under Remus’ covers, surrounded by his scent of old books, aftershave and smoke. 

When he was laid down comfortably on his back, he closed his eyes and let his hand rub over the front of his bottoms slowly (he had been given the average uniform rather than the bright orange overalls when he had first got there. They were a plain light brown top and bottoms that were too big for him but still comfortable). He imagined both him and Remus encased under the blanket together, Remus pinning him down and biting his neck. With his free hand, he put his fingers to his throat as if he could feel Remus there. He imagined Remus kissing down his chest as his hand massaged his crotch until his face was positioned right over the tent in his boxers, his other fantasy clothes having been gone the entire time. Remus would then pull down his boxers, and he imitated the motion himself, and wrapped his hand around his cock as he imagined Remus’ mouth doing so, hollowing out and sliding it in and out. He could feel his whole body go hot just seeing Remus’ face in his mind, and he let out a low and quiet moan. He moved his hand up and down slowly after the initial teasing, letting himself enjoy the moment.

It was just when he imagine Remus coming off him with a pop to give him a sly grin that the door opened cautiously to reveal the real Remus standing triumphantly at the door, with James trailing behind him moodily. He would have lasted much longer, but the thrill of being caught as well as the dirty grin on Remus’ face when they made eye contact in real life made him climax immediately and once he started he couldn’t stop, embarrassment flaring his cheeks as his hips jerked involuntarily into his hand.

When he was done, he looked away from Remus and buried his face in his clean hand and felt his skin burning with the blush. He then felt his hand being taken away by the wrist and was met with Remus’ infuriating and amused smirk. “Miss me, puppy?” Sirius knew there was no point in trying to salvage the situation so just nodded and to his surprise Remus reached under the blanket and brought out his other hand then put it to his mouth and licked his hand clean. Sirius could already feel himself hardening again. He hadn’t recovered that quickly since he was a teenager and it was strange for him to be that attracted to somebody. Remus then reached under the covers to see if what he’d done had had the desired effect and was pleased to find that Sirius' cock was hardening in his hand. “At least some part of you is happy to see me.” He said, smiling before leaning forward and snogging Sirius, dominating the kiss completely.

James' disgusted noise of objection was heard on the other side of the room, and both men faced him with smiles on their faces. “Come on, guys, I’m still here! Can’t you do this another time?”

“You’re always here, James!” Sirius supplied. “When do you expect us to do it exactly?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can sneak into a closet or something? You’d get a little bit more privacy!”

“Well I’ve never tried exhibitionism before.” Said Remus.

“There’s a first time for everything.” Replied Sirius, pulling Remus forward by the hand in his hair into another passionate kiss, making over the top moans into the other’s mouth, much to James’ displeasure.

When they pulled away, Remus’ lips were plump and wet, and his hair was messy from Sirius’ grabbing. He looked so fuckable Sirius almost lost all of his control and bent him over then and there, whether James watched or not, but unfortunately the announcement for lunch came through and he’d already missed breakfast so he was starving. He would have had the yoghurt that James got, but he didn’t really like strawberry all that much so decided to wait. With a sigh and some shifting while he cleaned up with Remus’ blanket, he pulled up his boxers and bottoms and got out of bed.”

“They don’t collect our laundry until tomorrow so I guess we’re sharing tonight." Remus said. “Because I sure as hell don’t fancy sleeping covered in your come.”

“Well that’s going to happen either way, so I don’t see what you’re complaining about.”

James cringed and complained about how crude they were being so they both just laughed and decided to make disgustingly obvious innuendos the entire way to the dining hall, and even slipped in an arse grab every now and again. James frowned and realised that Remus and Sirius were in a sort of honeymoon phase and that this was his life for the very near and possibly far future. That night, he decided, he was going to buy ear plugs from commissary.


	5. A New Cellmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is very Out of Character and James doesn't realise why until it's almost too late...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remus is out of character but it will make sense trust me

In the early hours of the morning, James heard a soft knock on the door and a whisper for Remus’ name and tried to ignore seeing the other man get up and go out, but couldn’t help but wonder what Remus was doing. About half an hour later, he saw Remus come back in, body shaking slightly and moving quickly. He decided not to say anything, because it was none of his business, but he was still slightly worried when Remus sat on the bottom bunk he’d come from and rubbed his face in his hands roughly and sniffed then slapped his face a few times and then laid down dramatically, draping himself over Sirius and rutting against him. James decided the best course of action was to get some sleep.

When James woke up next, he was for some reason feeling slightly sea sick and didn’t realise why at first until he heard a squeak above him that woke him up enough to make him realise his bunk was moving back and forth. “Really?!” He shouted, well as much as he could shout after just waking up. He got out of bed and almost fell over with how quickly he tried to scramble away. Turning back to his bunk only made it worse. 

Remus was laid back on the bed with his legs around Sirius’ waist, while Sirius was pounding into him relentlessly, hips snapping back and forth with a rhythm even James wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep up. He had no idea how Sirius had that much energy. But on the plus side, they weren’t fully naked. “Guys, please stop. I had to listen to it nearly all night, why are you even in that bunk?” 

It appeared that neither man had even noticed James up until this point, and at least Sirius had the decency to look a little ashamed, pulling the bed cover over them, where Remus just laughed and continued to roll his hips into Sirius and moaned when he managed to hit that spot inside himself on Sirius’ cock. “We would be in the other bunk,” Remus said, as if he wasn’t stroking himself lazily under the cover, “but the top has Sirius’ dried spunk on it, and we couldn’t stay on the bottom one because we fucked there last night and it was dirty. In our defence, we had planned on sleeping and did so, until Sirius woke me up by rutting into my leg like a horny mutt, so if anything it’s his fault.” Remus finished, and James was surprised at how straight Remus could keep his face.

“And what do you have to say for yourself.” He asked Sirius.

“Nghh.” 

Remus laughed and James was confused for all of about 30 seconds, but when Sirius collapsed on top of Remus he screwed his eyes shut and groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t just do what I think you did. Sirius look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t just come while I was chastising you for this!”

Sirius lifted his head from Remus’ chest and looked at James with uncharacteristic embarrassment and shrugged awkwardly, before turning his face back into Remus’ chest to hide himself. Remus patted Sirius’ hair and looked at James with a little bit of guilt. “I promise we won’t do it again if that helps? I’m sorry we woke you up too.”

James sighed, too tired to deal with anything at the moment and just nodded. “Yeah, okay, but if it happens again, I want permission for one free hit. Oh, and I want your winnings from last night’s game as… compensation.”

Remus grimaced. “Really? They were hard to get too. The things I do for you, Black.” Remus then shifted a little to pull up his bottoms and drag himself out from under Sirius. All in all, he looked well fucked with his hair all over and his eyes a little glossed over. His clothes were all creased and he had quite a few bruises along his neck, but moved just as gracefully as ever, which amazed both Sirius and James not that they’d ever admit it. He opened his drawer beside his bunk and handed James 2 cereal bars, a pen and a full bar of soap. “Take care of them, James. Promise you won’t misuse them.”

“You’re not giving away a child here, Remus.”

“No, they’re more precious to me than a child. Promise me, James.”

“They will not go mistreated, I give you my word.” 

“Good. Sirius, get ready, you shouldn’t miss breakfast two days in a row it’s the most important meal of the day.”

“What about me?” James complained. 

“James in all the time I’ve known you, not once have you missed any meal, but if it makes you feel left out.” Remus walked over to James and put a hand on his shoulder. “Please don’t miss breakfast because you’ll need your strength, Dear. That make you feel better?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“No problem.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were sat at the breakfast tables while their rooms where having the laundry taken out to be changed and washed, thank the lord. Sirius was shovelling food in his mouth like it was no ones business and James and Remus were discussing about the next football match and deciding who they should bet on. They decided to bet for opposite teams and split their winnings with whoever lost. Just as Sirius was about to complain about him not getting anything, Evans came into the hall with a chubby looking bloke and plonked him right down next to Sirius on the table since James and Remus were sat together on the other side. “This is Peter Pettigrew, your new roommate.”

“How delightful.” James and Remus said at the same time, watching as Pettigrew wiped his nose on his sleeve.

Officer Evans just shrugged. “He’s your problem now Lupin, Potter, so I expect you to show him round and make him feel comfortable here. If you have any grievances, you may take them up with me or the warden.”

“I’m sure we’ll be just fine, Sweet heart.” James said. “If I’m nice to him, will you be nice to me?”

“I’ll consider it, perhaps, but you shouldn’t need incentive to be nice to someone.”

“I don’t need incentive to be nice to you, I need incentive for you too accept it.”

Lily tried to hold her blush but failed and just walked back out instead. 

“That was tragic.” Remus said, amused.

“Don’t know what you’re on about, she blushed for me, Rem. Ohh, you must be talking about the sorry sack of shit that just got dropped off at our doorstep.”

“Absolutely, as if I’d mock your love for Lily. I value you higher than that James. We all saw the smile threatening to break onto her face. I was most definitely referring to the stray that very rudely rocked up on our table mid conversation.”

“Play nice, boys.” Sirius said sharply, but with a smile on his face then turned to Peter. “Don’t mind them, they’re arseholes to everyone. You get used to it after a while. I’m Sirius.” He then reached out his hand for Peter to shake before and just as the shorter man was about to take it James piped up.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. Unfortunately, I know where that hand’s been.” Peter looked uncertainly at Sirius’ hand and then at his friendly smile and didn’t know what to think.

“Fuck you Prongs it’s been washed!” Peter then made the quick decision not to shake the offered hand and James grinned triumphantly at Sirius, and Remus just rolled his eyes, then looked at Peter.

“Remus Lupin, no need for the introduction I’m sure but it seems customary, and this is James Potter.”

“Is he um… your boyfriend?” Peter asked shyly.

“James? Oh absolutely, The Apple to my Pie.”

“The Straw to my Berry.” James added.

“The Peanut Butter to my Jelly.”

“The smoke in my high.” Remus sang.

“The one I want to marry.” James sang back.

“Oh…” Peter said. “That’s… lovely.”

Sirius shook his head and turned to Peter again after watching that display with thinly veiled disgust even though he was somewhat impressed. At first, he had kind of wished he had that strange fluidity of wit and speech with Remus that he had with James, but as he spent more time with them, he realised that all he had to do was speak up, but he was just a little tired this morning. “Since they’re not going to be much help, I guess I’ll show you around.”

“If you wouldn’t mind that would be great.”

“No problem, Petey. We’ll have to go around with one of them at some point though because I’ve only been here myself for just over a week so I don’t know quite as much as they do, right lads?”

James and Remus had gone back to their conversation about football and Sirius face-palmed. They both turned to face him when they heard the slap and gave him confused looks. “Did you just slap yourself in the face?” James asked.

“No, I- Never mind. And just for the record, Peter, I’m Remus’ actual boyfriend.”

James gave a scandalised gasp. “Remus, you’re… with him?! Of all people why him?”

“Not sure, must be the hair. It’s certainly not the lack of intelligence, in that area you trump him ten fold baby.”

“That doesn’t really mean much though. Pete probably has his smarts tenfold. Hell, a rat probably does.”

“Are you calling Peter a rat?” Remus asked.

“Why not? It would complete his initiation into our weird as fuck gang, so yeah little um… Wormtail.”

“Dear god I hope you never have to name a child.”

“Why not? When me and Lily have kids I’m sure she’ll instantly love with little Elvendork Potter.”

Remus snorted and Peter looked at them with confusion. Sirius patted him on the back. “It’ll be like that for a while. They don’t really make much sense until you’re forced to live in the same room as them. All the time.”

“So… You’re his boyfriend?”

“Yeah. Why do you care?”

“I’m just confused. At first I was trying to make conversation, but now I don’t know what in the world is actually going on.”

Sirius smiled sympathetically. “You’ll be okay, trust me. They weirded me out too but I’ll look after you Wormtail. We all will, isn’t that right?” He said, looking pointedly at James and Remus.

“Yes, mother.” James replied at the same time Remus responded, “yes, Dear.”

Sirius smiled. “I don’t know what’s gotten into them this morning. Remus is actually soft as shit as you’ll learn and James… Well actually James is always this annoying. It’s actually just Remus. James, do you know what’s up with him?”

James then remembered what he’d seen that morning and made the connection as to why Remus was being so shameless and energetic. How could he be so stupid? How could he let that happen? Remus might be big and tough but he needed James whether he liked it or not, and James had let him down. He’d asked James to do that one thing, and he couldn’t even do that. “Remus, can I have a word in the cell?”

“What’s wrong, Jamie?” Remus asked, and James winced as he realised he’d been letting it go on all morning without noticing. What kind of friend was he? 

James abruptly stood up and took Remus’ arm. “We need to talk.” 

Sirius tried to protest, but James gave him a stern look. “Sit back down you little brat, remember what happened last time you tested my physical strength?”

“What the fuck James?” Sirius exclaimed, annoyed and upset by James’ words and tone.

“I’m sorry it’s not your fault, but- Look this has nothing to do with you, so just show the new kid around the block, yeah? I’ll find you when it’s over.” James then dragged Remus away without another word until he flung him into their cell and followed, closing the door. “What the fuck, Remus? You saw Malfoy again didn’t you? Don’t you remember what happened last time? You nearly fucking overdosed you stupid Prick! The warden let you off but once more and they’ll take you to psyche and you know it! Why would you do this? What about Sirius, hm? How are you going to protect him if you’re off your head on drugs?”

Remus just shrugged. “There’s no point anymore. It’s worse than I thought, Jamie. I like him, I mean like like him and I don’t know what to do about it. He actually thinks I’m a good person. He doesn’t know I kill for money. He doesn’t know I… He doesn’t know I killed his Uncle Alphard for a few quid. He doesn’t know it was my bullet that gave him the scar on his left shoulder. I didn’t see him there, James. He was standing on the other side of him and it was one of my first jobs I was a little nervous and as soon as I shot I realised. It was awful. Alphard, he fell right onto Sirius and I watched him cry and scream and wish it was a dream. I watched him force himself to run away when the police arrived and I watched him patch up his own wound in an alleyway before trekking back to his house. He doesn’t know that I’m the reason he had no one left to run to. He could never like like me if he knew. I don’t know what to do any more James. I needed something to take the edge off, lower my inhibitions a bit and let me have what I wanted before it was out of reach. I need to tell him that we can’t be in a relationship, but I don’t want to, but I can’t deceive him James. I really don’t want to see him get hurt. I tried to make it up to him for the longest time. I’ve killed a lot of people to keep him safe out there and when I reached 22, I lost track of him because I fell hard James. I watched how much he cared, and how much he loved his brother and protected him with everything. I watched how he was human and did things selflessly to help others and when he was safe I backed off. I made sure he’d never know and then Regulus comes in and says he wants my help and tell me how am I supposed to refuse that?”

James stood dumbfounded for a minute then hugged Remus tight and Remus let him. “I never knew, Moony.”

“I never told anyone. I fucking blocked it out of my mind so hard that I eventually stopped thinking about it. It got to the point where I made myself a bit delusional about whether it was all just a dream or not, but I got on with it. I got over it. I thought I did, anyway. He wasn’t like any criminal I ever knew and I inexplicably cared for him. I’d never cared for anyone James, you understand? I never cared for my dead parents or adoptive father or even myself that much and then he came and he was so different to my world and I loved him for it, I really did. That’s why he can’t find out, James, and I appreciate you not telling him.”

James pulled away from the hug and looked Remus in the yes. “You need to get some rest and sleep it off right now before you end up spilling it all to him yourself. It’s weird seeing you so emotional and open about having sex. I didn’t even know you wanked. I’m sorry I didn’t realise sooner.”

“You’re a good person James, no matter what the law says. You’ll get Lily some day. I truly believe that.”

James smiled and helped Remus into his bunk since they were all new ones now. “Thanks. I’ll stay and watch guard to make sure Sirius doesn’t wake you before you sober up. Can’t have you getting in trouble now can we?”

Remus replied with a snore and James sighed. It was going to be along few years.


	6. I'm Sorry

When Sirius came back a few hours later with Peter, the first thing he did was sit next to Remus while he was sleeping and brushed his hair from his eyes. He then leaned down and kissed his head softly before turning to James and asking him what happened quietly. 

James decided that it was probably best not to hide anything else from Sirius and told him the truth. “He took some drugs this morning when we were sleeping. I should have noticed. I should have been there for him but I didn’t even realise.”

“James did he… Did he only have sex with me because he was influenced by drugs?”

“No. He did that because he wanted to. They lowered his inhibitions, made him more brave and open about what he was feeling. You know how he doesn’t really talk about feelings, well he wanted to let you know he cares and it got a bit out of hand I guess”

Sirius breathed out a sigh of relief. “Will he be okay?”

“I’ll be just fine.” Remus muttered tiredly. “I’m just thankful my tolerance hasn’t gone down.”

“You’ve done this before? Remus are you an absolute idiot? I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Intelligence is very taxing, sometimes my mind just needs a break.” Sirius just shook his head and got up. “Sirius, wait. I’m sorry, okay?”

“No, you’re not. Did you consider what this would do to us? To James? He was worried about you and he thought it was his fault! Did you think about how I would feel when I found out our first ever time was because you were fucking high? I thought it was because you liked me, you absolute prick!”

“I do like you and I know drugs is a sensitive topic for you and I understand-“

Sirius put a hand up to stop him talking. “Don’t you dare. Don’t turn this on me and the problems I have with my family. My problem is that you were being so selfish! What would I do without you?”

“James-“

“James isn’t my boyfriend though, is he? James isn’t the one who hospitalised two men because they didn’t like me. James isn’t the one who makes my stomach go all fluttery when he smiles, and he most certainly isn’t the one I want to be with! No offense James.”

“None taken mate.” James answered, looking at Remus who swallowed and had a genuinely guilty look on his face.

Remus stood up slowly as winced at the bright light of the room before he stepped forward and pulled Sirius into a tight embrace. He instantly felt at least a little better. “I am so sorry. You’re right I didn’t think about how it would affect you, but I never meant for it to hurt you. I’ll quit, I promise. I’d do anything for you.” Remus sighed and felt more guilt fill him up as Sirius hugged him back. Sirius really cared if he was okay or not. It’s not that it wasn’t the same for him in terms of Sirius but he knew that it was never going to last. He wasn’t being fair, and he couldn’t do this to Sirius. He shouldn’t have even slept with him, but once he’d taken the pills it was too late.

He regretted it now, knowing that he had hurt Sirius but at the time it seemed reasonable. Malfoy promised to keep Snape away from Sirius and offered him the drugs as an apology on behalf of his friend. He figured it would be better to have peace between them all than fighting them off constantly (even if it was very suspicious) so to not be rude, he took the offer and got them out of the way. He figured it wouldn’t affect him that much, since he had done a lot in the past (especially after he did what he did to Sirius. He found it hard to live with himself for a while, and Fenrir was no help to him at all, simply stating that he should never form emotional attachments to anything ever. He wanted to stop feeling things. He wanted to stop the guilt and the worry, so used an alternative and slipped into low-level drug use, gained as payment of course. When he realised he’d become a little too dependent on the next fix, he stopped himself and had to train his body back to fitness. It was not a time he was proud of and he slipped up every now and again without guidance but seeing Sirius again had flared up the guilt he had pretty much destroyed in himself for a long while). Once he had taken them, however, his body felt renewed and he felt energetic and the first thing on his mind was Sirius. How Sirius was waiting for him to make a move and make them official. He was only thinking about the upsides and about how happy Sirius could be. How could he have been so selfish? 

He pulled away from Sirius and looked him in the eyes, smiling warmly. “Please forgive me, puppy.”

“Oh no. You’re not getting off the hook that easily, Lupin. You’re really going to have to make it up to me. You know, technically we haven’t actually…um…” Sirius turned a bit red and leaned up to whisper so that the other two in the room couldn’t hear him, “made love yet. But you’re going to have to earn it. I’ll help you, Remus you’re not alone.” Now there’s something Remus wasn’t used to hearing. Of course he was alone he always had been. It was strange not to be, even if he knew deep down he really was because Sirius could never truly be his, and he couldn’t allow himself to think otherwise. In fact, it would probably less painful if he just admitted everything as soon as possible. He could still protect Sirius, but at least he could clear his conscience, if only a little.

“Sirius there’s something I need to tell you first-“

“I hate to interrupt, but there’s some questions I have, so would it be okay to ask one of you?” Peter asked quietly, still watching the scene with awkwardness. 

Sirius sighed and Remus just nodded. “I don’t see why not. What do you want to know Peter?” Remus asked.

……………………..

They spent the best part of two hours explaining spoken and unspoken prison rules and the criminal hierarchy to Peter the best they could between them, but there was still a lot to learn. By the time lunch came around, James and Remus had agreed to take turns explaining things to Peter when he had questions because he was starting to get mildly irritating but every now and again he’d slip out an amusing comment without knowing so they put up with it. Peter had learned from them and the attitudes of other prisoners that Remus was basically at the top. The king of the prison if you will, and Sirius basically the Queen. If any harm befell Sirius there would be hell to pay and everyone knew it. It was just like he’d been told before he got here, except this Lupin bloke seemed to be a lot more emotionally involved in his assignment than Peter had first thought.

After lunch had finished and Sirius and James had convinced Peter that they made the pasta out of dried bone marrow and the ‘chicken’ was actually dormouse, they made their way back to their cells. Peter excused himself saying that he needed to make a phone call while the others sat and talked for a while, considering the options of how to spend their time up until dinner.

When Peter rang the number he twizzled the wire nervously in hiss tubby finger until the other end picked up. “Hello, Sir? I don’t know if I can do this, I mean Black seems to very well guarded and Lupin wouldn’t let his guard down for the world. Nobody told me they were in a relationship.”

“Peter calm down. You knew this was not an every day thing and you volunteered. If you want to prove yourself to me, you have to do this, and Lupin can’t find out I was behind this, okay? I don’t have a death wish believe it or not.”

“But Mr Black if he even suspects me he’ll kill me too.”

“Yes but if you pull it off I can give you everything you ever wanted. From the information I’ve been given from my source, Lupin is susceptible to substances if you get my drift. I need you to discretely meet up with a man called Lucius Malfoy and have him supply you with some of my drugs. Slip them to Remus. Not into his hand of course, but into his drink or food, then keep doing it every day until he eventually can’t stand on his own. The withdrawal alone should kill him off and he won’t even know.”

“Sir, with the upmost respect I don’t think that will work. See his friends, this Potter and certainly Sirius know when he’s taken something. They can just tell. I don’t think it’s the right way to go.”

There was a small silence from the other end and Peter was afraid he’d offered the wrong opinion. “That observation is an important one. In a relationship you said? Well that makes things easier if anything. You could just plant a seed and wait for it to grow so to speak. I want you to tell Sirius who Remus is. I want you to tell him everything but be sly about it. Make him ask you and don’t be obvious. Once Sirius starts to mistrust Remus they’ll grow apart very quickly. That’s when you convince Remus to take the edge off with a quick fix. Once he’s taken the first he’ll be easily swayed, especially on my stuff. It’s fucking good, strong stuff if I do say so myself.”

“Is that all sir?”

“It’ll take time Pettigrew, so the real question is are you willing to do this?”

“Absolutely. I can do this, please trust me.”

“Alright.” Then the phone hung up and Peter let out a relieved breath at the loss of Orion Black’s strict and cruel tone in his ear. He had never liked the man, but he was powerful and Peter was nothing if not self-centred and he was going to exploit the situation for all it was worth, no matter who got hurt in the process.


	7. Who told him?

The following moths weren’t easy for Peter. Every five minutes it seemed that Remus was about to tell Sirius everything and ruin his plan. This meant that he had to interject at very inopportune moments constantly because he just couldn’t risk Sirius finding out. Remus and Sirius became much closer over time than Peer would have preferred. He intended to try and stop it earlier but found that his boss had been right when he said he needed patience. It had been three months since he had got there and it was a singular incident (planned of course) that got the small group to actually trust him. It had been simple enough. It was rare to find Sirius without Remus or James at his side, so he had to wait, and wait he did. He was presented with his moment when Severus Snape (a man he was well acquainted with) chose to come up to Sirius while he was smoking outside by himself. Peter had left a small blue pill on Remus’ sheets and he and Sirius had gotten into an argument over it, with Sirius saying he said he’d quit and Remus denying it was his at all. He had tried to blame the others but James wouldn’t have and they assumed that nobody liked Peter enough to give him drugs so it had to be Remus’. 

Severus had been consulted about what was to happen and had let Peter defend Sirius by punching him in the face. He’d needed a few stiches but he would be paid handsomely for it. Besides, it’s not like his face could look much worse. Sirius had then decided that Peter was very trustworthy and after hearing about what he did, James placed trust in him and Remus although suspicious decided to trust James’ judgement. 

Unfortunately, Peter had to keep up the act after that for a while. This time around though, he was actually included in their friendship and played jokes with them and talked to them like they talked to each other and the more time he spent with them the more he strayed from his original goal but every now and again he would get a phone call reminding him what he was there for. 

It was difficult ever finding Sirius without Remus at first, but after Peter was accepted into their dynamic, it became more commonplace for any two of them to be left with each other if they wanted to do thing the others didn’t of if they were busy. It was within the first few weeks of being in their social circle that he found James and Remus had a tendency to gamble and play games with other inmates to keep themselves entertained. It happened strategically every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday night and then again at random intervals. On spontaneous games, Sirius would sometimes go, but he was always left with Peter in the cell on fixed games because he hated gambling. That was his opportunity.

It was a Friday night and Peter had been alone with Sirius for the past twenty minutes, chatty absentmindedly about unimportant things, which of course made the conversation turn to Sirius talking about how great Remus was and how great they were going to be together outside of prison. In the time Peter had been observing them, they had gotten closer than he imagined two people ever getting in prison. It seemed almost as if Remus trusted and loved Sirius just as much as Sirius loved and trusted Remus. In fact the only arguments they’d ever shared had been manipulated into creation by Peter. He almost felt bad, but then thought about the amount of money he was going to get and let it go. 

When Sirius started talking about how peaceful it was when Remus read to him at night, Peter cut in. “I’m surprised you forgave him for the whole you know… uncle thing. I don’t mean to bring up harsh memories or anything but I have to say you’re a bigger man than I am.”

Sirius look curiously at Peter from his bed. “What do you mean the whole ‘uncle thing’?”

Peter made himself look confused. “You know… Oh god please say you knew I thought you knew! Remus will kill me. Never mind, just forget I said anything. Have you heard about the new-“

“Peter.” Sirius said in a warning tone. He then stood up and sat on Peter’s bunk opposite him. “Tell me.” Peter tried to make a scared and uncertain face, which seemed to have worked because Sirius gave him a sympathetic look. “Wormtail, mate, Remus wouldn’t hurt you, you’re one of us. The marauders. He’d as much hurt you as he’d hurt James and you know he wouldn’t do that. But if it makes you feel better, I promise not to tell him, okay?”

Peter hesitated but nodded and then spoke. “Well, you see you know what Remus did before he came here right?”

Sirius looked at Peter for a minute and swallowed. He didn’t actually know anything about Remus beyond how he was in prison. “I never asked.” He lied. He would have felt bad but sometimes curiosity just got the better of him.

“Well, since you promised not to tell. He was a hit man. The best there’s ever been they say. He’s the go to guy for every since criminal boss in the country, and he’s more powerful than any of them put together. You couldn’t expect to send an army after Remus Lupin and expect them to live to tell the tale. He started his career when he killed his parents and disappeared. Nobody had heard from him for years. Then he turned up on the radar again under the wing of Fenrir Greyback. Nobody knew why, but it’s rumoured that he saw potential in the kid’s ruthlessness. He pretty much raised him and then the ungrateful little tyke went and cut off all contact after learning everything he could about crime from him. Fenrir had taught him from a very young age apparently, how to kill and fight, and Remus took it with him as he grew up. He supposedly had Fenrir at gunpoint last time they met and threatened to kill him even after all he’d done. He then moved on to professional assassinations, made a name for himself. He killed off every assassin that was any where near his skill level so people were forced to hire him or be only half guaranteed for a job well done.” Sirius was staring at Peter with disbelief. 

“No. Not my Remus. Why are you saying this Peter, and what does any of this have to do with an uncle?”

“It’s true though, Sirius. All of it. And I was getting to that. See, he was called up one day by your very own father. He put a hit out on Alphard Black.”

Sirius gasped and shook his head. “No. I-I can’t- He wouldn’t-“

“Remus took it straight away. No questions asked. You have to understand that human life never mattered to Remus Lupin. Life, to him, was a business.”

“You’re lying. Why would you say that Peter?” Sirius sounded more angry than Peter had anticipated. 

“I wouldn’t lie to you Sirius, you know me. Ask him yourself if I’m so dishonest. Why do you think he wouldn’t tell you anything?” Peter did his best to look offended and Sirius seemed to believe that at least Peter thought he was telling the truth.

They spent the time waiting for the others to get back in silence after Sirius had gone back to his own bunk and laid down, staring at the ceiling. As soon as James and Remus sauntered through the door however, James boasting and Remus rolling his, eyes, Sirius shot up and dragged Remus with him as he headed back out. “What’s up with him?” James asked.

“Been complaining about withdrawal symptoms since you left.”

James laughed “It’s sickening yet sweet how much they love each other isn’t it? I wish Lily would love me like that.”

“Yeah I bet.”

As James and Peter talked about Lily (read: James aggressively talked at Peter about how perfect Lily was) Sirius pulled Remus into Frank Longbottom’s cell and made everyone clear out. He then turned to Remus and tried to keep a non accusatory tone. “Remus, I need you to tell the absolute truth, okay?” Remus nodded. “Did you kill Alphard Black.” Remus froze for a second then opened his mouth to reply but found his words caught in his throat. He felt himself go cold and felt his heart start thumping against his chest. When Sirius saw the blood drain from Remus’ face he knew he had an answer. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re protecting me out of guilt or some shit?”

“No!” Remus said quickly, reaching towards Sirius who slapped his hand away. “I care about you Sirius, I love you. Your brother asked me to protect you. Please let me explain”

“What is there to explain Remus? You almost ruined my fucking life. He accepted me, he wanted me to be happy. He was the only member of my family I was safe with. He died in my arms Remus!” Sirius was shouting by this point, tears streaming down his face. “I got his flat and his fortune after he died, you know? What do you think happened then? They fucking robbed me. They came to his flat and took all of his things and burned it down. The police never bothered investigating. They found out about the money, and figured the only way to get it was to kill me for it. They tried poisoning me, they beat me, they sent assassins after me when I ran away. I’ve been running from them my entire life, and the only reason I’m here is because I didn’t want to inflict a life like that on somebody else, especially not my own brother! That money is just sat there in a bank somewhere, and it’s all I have left of my uncle. It’s all your fault.” Sirius raised his arm and punched Remus in the face as hard as he could, and Remus let him, not bothering to act like it hurt when he felt his cheek bone crack and nose gush with blood. He held Sirius’ arms to stop him from doing worse and Sirius pulled himself away.

“Sirius if I hadn’t done it someone else-“

“But you did do it. And it meant nothing to you, did it? Just another pay check. Like protecting me was. You never cared about me, did you?”

“That’s not how it happened please just listen-“

“You fucking killed him!”

“Please just calm down, I’m sorry that this happened and you found out like this but I need you to know I’m trying to make it up to you. I’m protecting you from those people like I always-“

“I don’t need protection from a murdering psychopath!”

“Fine, I killed him!” Remus snapped. “Now I’ve said it just listen-“

“So it’s all true then?” Sirius’ tone was furious and disbelieving at the same time. “Why would I listen to a man who killed his own parents?”

Remus suddenly went still and he took a deep breath. He knew there was no reasoning with Sirius, which was fair enough, he was upset and had a right to be, but he couldn’t believe of all people, Sirius would believe that. Remus’ tone was quiet when he responded. “I’m sorry I hurt you, but you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. I’ve done things in my life that I’m not proud of but I’d never… There’s no point any more is there? You’re not going to listen. I’m going to go and see someone, tell James I’m sorry and that I fucking tried.”

“Remus, don’t you dare, we’re going to talk about this right now!” Sirius’ words were cut off by the closing of the cell door as Remus made his quick exit. On the outside Remus pulled the handle up and zip tied the handle to a small bar on the wall, effectively keeping the door closed against Sirius’ attempts to open it.

“Hit a rough patch with the missus?” Frank laughed as he saw Remus walk away from the tied up door and heard Sirius shouting for Remus to get back there. 

“Not now Longbottom. Go get James and tell him Snape locked Sirius in your door when you were all out.” 

“Okay, but where are you going?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.” Remus said, walking away and straight to the cell Snape and Malfoy shared. “Which one of you fuckers told him? He didn’t deserve this! I’ll kill you.”

Malfoy smirked and stood up, sauntering over to Remus “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now!”

Remus found himself suddenly picked up by three men and pinned to a bunk, cloth pushed into his mouth. This was a situation Remus had never found himself in, but then he’d never been so emotionally compromised when giving death threats. A second piece of cloth was then tied around his arm and he realised what was about to happen. Remus shook his head and tried to scream, only to have it muffled by the cloth being held into his mouth. He managed to kick over one of the men and when the attention was on him pulled the one holding his cloth forward using his mouth and head butted him, instantly feeling blood coat his face from the other man. Then there was only one left and that was easy enough, a swift kick to the groin, then he was pushed into the one he had head-butted and all that was left was to punch the first one. When he was up and breathing heavily and covered in blood, he turned to face Malfoy and immediately reached up to grab a hand that was coming for his neck with a needle and pushed it down, staring at Malfoy with so much anger it made him shake. 

He then heard a small familiar voice at the door. “Remus? James told me to see if you were okay. And I guess you’re doing fine, eh?”

“Peter go back.”

“But James said-“

“I don’t give a fuck what James said I say go back, right now!”

Peter almost immediately fled at the feral look in Remus’ eye but didn’t. “I can’t do that Remus.”

“Peter, I really haven’t got time for this, I’m in the middle of something.” Remus said, turning back to the still terrified Lucius.

“The thing is, Remus so am I.” And then Remus felt the shard pain of the injection and turned to face Peter who was holding the needle in his hand dumbly.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You did this you little fucker, I’ll fucking tear you to shreds.” Remus went to hit Peter, but found a numb sensation in his limbs and found his body much heavier than he remembered it being. “No… I need to protect him. Why Peter? We took you in, we trusted you.” Peter looked away and didn’t answer. Remus felt himself stagger backwards and hit something he vaguely thought of being Malfoy, but couldn’t quite remember His vision started doubling and becoming fuzzy when a hand connected with his face a few times. He could faintly feel his face getting smeared with warm liquid but his only thought was that he need to get to Sirius. He needed to warn him about Peter. He was on all fours now. He couldn’t remember how he got there, but he continued dragging himself across the floor anyway, until something connected with the back of his head and everything went black.


	8. Marked

The next time Remus regained consciousness, he heard a very loud buzzing noise all around him and when he cracked open his eyes, everything was mostly blurry. He vaguely saw someone running up to him and realised he was in mid air. His mind lazily made the connection that he was probably on a bed or something of the sort. He then made the connection of the messy hair and glasses to James. “Jamie…”

“Remus what happened to you? Sirius is worried sick and Peter is beside himself!” James rushed out.

“Watch for Peter.”

“What?” 

Remus couldn’t quite focus on his words in his state and panicked when he saw James being dragged away by people in uniforms. “Peter told. Dangerous. Protect Siri…”

“Remus don’t you say that, you’re coming back to us, right?!” James shouted, though the sound slowly drowned out as Remus drifted out of consciousness again. 

When he woke up next, he was strapped down to a metal bed in a plain white room with a drip hanging from his arm. He tried struggling, but only resulted in hurting his wrists against the strong leather straps, so resorted to try thinking more calmly. It must have been at least a few hours since he was brought to psyche, because the effects of the drugs seemed to have worn off completely. After a while, he came to a decision that he could feel himself already regretting. He got his thumb between his fingers and pushed down until he felt the bones disconnect and bit down on his lip to stifle the cries of pain, then slipped his hand from the bond and unstrapped the other cuffs holding him down after pushing his thumb back into place. Then he ripped out the needle from his arm and pressed his hand where there was a small droplet of blood forming and limped over to beside the door and leaned back against the wall. All he had to do now was wait.

…………………………

It had been three days since Remus had been sent away and they hadn’t heard a word of him. James had almost fainted when he saw Remus’ body being carried away on a stretcher though the yard. He had tried to talk to him, but all he had said was to protect Sirius from Peter or something of the like. He had assumed Remus was out of his mind because Peter was barely a threat to a mouse, never mind Sirius, but he wouldn’t have said it for no reason, so James was a little more cautious of the man. 

Sirius had been wrecked when he’d found out. As soon as James had gotten him for the cell he’d ran straight to where James had seen him being carried but he was long gone by that point. When James found him on the yard, Sirius was on his knees, staring at he gate. James had told him it wasn’t his fault, but Sirius had been adamant it was. James had tried to console him the best he could, but ended up sitting in silence with him when he found Sirius’ mood not improving at all. Nobody had made an attempt on Sirius’ life since after Remus left thus far. Perhaps out of respect for Remus, perhaps because they no longer thought he was worth going after. Whatever it was it made James suspicious and he was constantly on the look out for any danger to Sirius at all. 

Currently, they were sat in their cell, Sirius on Remus’ bunk, holding his pillow, and James and Peter on their own bunk.

“You knew didn’t you?” Sirius asked, breaking the silence and looking at James. It wasn’t an accusing glare like James had expected but rather a defeated and drained look that made James feel guilty.

“I knew that he killed your uncle, yes. But he did not kill his parents. He wouldn’t do that, Sirius, you know him. You saw how guilty he was for killing someone he didn’t even know.” James replied truthfully. Remus had only told him about the uncle that night he got high when Sirius was there, but he had told James everything else before. Remus frequented Malfoy’s cell the first few weeks and took what he could. The night he nearly overdosed he told James pretty much everything except about Alphard, and then passed out. For two days. James had been terrified out of his life and stayed by his side in the infirmary until he was okay. That had been the first time he saw Evans look at him with something akin to kindness. She valued loyalty that much was clear, and James was the most loyal fried one could find.

“What else do you know?”

“It’s not my place to tell, Padfoot.”

Sirius didn’t put up a fight, just nodded. “You know the worst part, Prongs? I was going to forgive him. I didn’t even let him explain I was just so angry that he kept it from me and made me believe that he loved me. I would have forgiven him anyway. It was all just a lie wasn’t it?”

“No. Remus loved you more than he ever loved anything you have to understand that. He valued you over his own life. The love between you was never a lie it’s just that the circumstances were unfortunate.”

Sirius hugged Remus’ pillow close to his chest. “Did you know my brother hired him to protect me?”

“Yes.” James replied. “Sirius, if he didn’t care about you he would have told you straight away, wouldn’t he? He didn’t want you to get hurt, and neither did I.”

“What did he say to you on the stretcher James?”

“I don’t think it really matters he was off his head…”

“I need to know. Stop the secrets and the lies, and just tell me.”

James looked conflicted for a moment before he got up from his bunk and went to sit next to Sirius to hug him. He then whispered into his ear what Remus had said to him and Sirius scowled at him. “What the fuck are you playing at James?” Sirius then got up and stood in front of Peter protectively, as if James would hurt him otherwise. “Peter told me the truth, and he wasn’t frightened of how I’d react. He was honest, James which is more than I can say for you. How dare you say he’s the dangerous one here?”

In that moment, James regretted telling Sirius the truth and realised that he had to make a decision. He hopped down from the bed and faced Sirius. “Why do you think he told you those things? What business did he have in doing that? How did that benefit him in any way?” James pointed an accusatory finger at Peter. “If you want to choose him over Remus be my guest, but I know where my loyalties lie. I thought you were better than that, but I guess just like the rest of these worthless fucks.”

Sirius raised his fist to James’ face but found his hand stopped by James’ own before he got a chance to lay the hit. He was then swiftly kneed in the gut and doubled over from the pain of the force of it.

“Don’t even try Sirius you’re not a criminal. You’re not one of us and you never have been nor ever will be. For Remus’ sake, and his sake only I will protect you, but don’t you think for one second that this is over.” James shot a dirty look at Peter before turning around and leaving the cell, oblivious to Sirius’ suppressed grunts of pain. He needed to find Remus. He needed to know what it meant, then he could actually help.

“Why did you tell me?” Sirius asked once James had left. “He does have a point.” 

“I’m a criminal not a monster, I thought you already knew anyway. You deserved to know.” Peter said.

“How did you know?”

“What?” Peter couldn’t think of an answer right away, and thought that it would be best to try to stall at least a little bit.

“You said you where in for stealing a car, didn’t you Peter? How does a lowly thief like you have access to information like that? I’m not stupid Pete.”

“I beg to differ.” Peter said, after noticing a shift in the window of the cell door.

“Excuse me.”

“No man in their right mind would ever give up the protection of Remus Lupin in a prison full of murderers. What did you think was happening here? You don’t have any idea. You should have just ran when you had the chance, left Regulus to deal with things by himself.” 

Sirius was up in Peter’s face faster than Peter would have bet he could move. “Don’t you ever talk about my brother. What’s gotten into you?”

The cell door then creaked open and a very familiar face popped through the door. Before Sirius could move he found himself bound to the bed by three strong men while another approached. “Pettigrew.” Snape sneered. “You’ve done your part, you can go now.” Peter then rushed from the room past a grinning man in the doorway. Snape moved aside and let the man come forward, closing the door behind him. His mouth then had a patch of duct tape slapped over it to seal his mouth shut

“Hello, Sirius. My name is Barty Crouch but these guys just call me Junior.” He said in a tone that if he hadn’t been in this situation, Sirius could have misconstrued as normal if not borderline psychotic. “I bet you’re wondering why well I’m going to tell you.” Crouch said, pulling a pencil and small bottle of black ink from his shoe. “I got suspected of murder you see. I did it of course, but that’s not he point of the story.” Barty then waved the mechanical pencil around in front of Sirius and upon closer inspection he could see a small sewing needle attached to the end of it. He tried to struggle but to no avail. “Oh honey struggling can only make this worse. Anyway,” He said, while pulling various things out of his pocket and putting them together, “I rock up to the court on, right and you’ll never guess who was there.” When he can put everything together, Sirius recognised it as a tattoo gun. Barty just put a feral grin on his face at the sight of Sirius’ panic. He then ripped off Sirius’ shirt and turned on the little needle so it vibrated and dipped it in the ink before pressing it to Sirius’ skin and carrying on with his story. “ It was only my father as judge. My very own flesh and blood and we all know how that went down don’t we? Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.” Sirius tried to scream when he felt the needle puncture his skin roughly and couldn’t tell whether the liquid pooling on him was blood or ink. Barty continued rambling as he continued putting tattoos on Sirius, and he was anything but soft. About half-way though trying to focus on Barty’s droning on and trying not to tense up, realising it only hurt more if he resisted it, he passed out. 

When he woke up, he found he was not in his cell, but surrounded by the people he’d last seen when conscious. He was on the floor, leaning back against the wall with his hands tied behind him with a plastic zip tie. His whole upper body hurt and when he looked down he realised he was in a different clean uniform. “What do you want with me?” He asked quietly.

“Your dear, darling daddy has put a lot of money on the line in order for you. He doesn’t like you very much from what I can tell. He wanted us to teach you a lesson. I wanted to kill you personally but he said he would prefer that we simply make your life a living hell which is much more cruel and once I realised that I was all for it. Those tattoos on you mark you as ours. Each one is something that links you to this fucking miserable place. Good work I think. It certainly wasn’t easy what with all your squirming and such. I even went ahead and put your identification number on your neck. Even if you got out of here, you’d never be the same, mind or body now. It’ll never come off. You’re tainted, filthy, and by my own hand too. “ Barty had a grin on his face that made Sirius uncomfortable, and also made him want to punch it.

“What now then?”

“Well now you’re awake, I want you to know that we’re not going to stop. With Lupin gone, you’ve got no one but Potter and Pettigrew certainly has him under control from what I hear. He’ll keep watch on you, Peter, make sure you don’t do anything stupid, and if you even think about taking him out things will get so much worse for you.”

“Well you can’t really step it up from constant torture.”

“Still cocky I see?” Barty got up and sauntered over to Sirius then pressed a hand down onto his sensitive chest, making the fabric of his shirt stick to his skin painfully. “Don’t worry, we’ll get that cleared up right away. You can go now.” He said, pulling Sirius up and undoing his hand ties. Sirius then walked out, unable to do much while surrounded and walked back to his own cell, checking around him constantly in his now paranoid state. When he got there, he found James pacing up and down. 

“Sirius! I don’t know where they’re keeping Remus, they’re not letting me see- Are you all right, mate? You’re white as a sheet.” James immediately came to Sirius’ side and attempted to reach forwards, but Sirius winced at the almost contact and stepped back. “Look, I’m sorry what I said was out of order but I just don’t think we can trust Peter after Remus and you shouldn’t run off like that, I need to make sure you’re safe or- what’s that?” James said, looking at Sirius’ chest.

“It’s nothing.” Sirius said. “James we can’t trust Peter, okay? He’s with them, he-“

“Who’s them? Oh my God Sirius what did they do to you?” James asked, worried. He pulled up the bottom of Sirius’ shirt and saw the black markings surrounded by red raised skin and smeared, dried blood. “Fucking Christ, we need to get you to the infirmary.”

“There’s nothing they can do James.”

“You’ll get infected, come on. We can sort this out later, right now I need you to be okay. Who did this to you?” 

“His said his name was Barty, but he has a whole crew with him James, there’s nothing you or I can do, it’s hopeless. They’re all working for my father. Pettigrew is our patrol officer, he’s there to make sure I don’t make any spontaneous moves or try to escape or god forbid get better.”

“That fucking bastard. I’ll help you Sirius, and so will Remus.”

“Thank you.” 

“No problem.” 

They both walked to the infirmary together until James was forced to leave Sirius at the doors so he could be attended to. Remus would kill him if he found out that he lost control of Sirius because he couldn’t keep his temper down. Remus wouldn’t literally kill him of course, but James can’t imagine what he would do would be all too pleasant. He needed to find Remus and get him out fast, before that gang got Sirius killed.


	9. Tying up loose ends

Remus sat by his door for two hours before anyone came by to check on him, and as soon as the door was opened, he pulled in the doctor and knocked him out then took his keys and left. Going by experience, he had about half an hour before anyone would really realise the doctor was missing. In that time he managed to get out of the psych ward with minimal detection because he was wearing the doctor’s uniform and nobody knew who he was in the psych ward anyway since he’d had no reason to be there before and any criminal who would know him in there was locked up. The hard part was going to be getting to his cellblock to see Sirius. The only real option he could see was to climb through a vent but lord knows where that would get him, and every guard inside knew who he was. He thought at this point that the best option he had would to be to go to reception, so that’s what he did.

When he walked in the receptionist who saw him had no idea who he was, just assumed he was a doctor and got the warden down when he said he needed to speak with him. “Lupin?” The warden looked more than surprised to see him there. 

“Hello Riddle. You wouldn’t mind helping me back to my cell would you? Seems I’m a bit lost.” Remus managed a confident smile through his pain and the warden just nodded, taking him inside and telling him to change into a uniform before going in, which he did. “You know there’s only so much I can do for you. Pull a stunt like that again and our professional relationship will soon turn sour. I can’t have my career come crashing down because of you.”

“Warden, come on. Would I do that to you?”

“I don’t for one second believe you wouldn’t.”

“Smart man.” Remus laughed and walked alongside Riddle through the halls. Just before he was allowed back in however, the warden leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. “When I allowed you in here on a personal favour you said you were going to keep a low profile. There’s only so much I can do for you before the guards get suspicious. This once I can say that the guards were mistaken and scratch the records before it becomes suspicious, and for that you at least owe me the truth.”

“Honestly? I’m being paid to look after the little piss baby known as Sirius Black from every single inmate. I’ve beat up or threatened every man in here that’s so much as looked at him funny and what thanks do I get? A needle to the neck and a punch to the cheek. I’ll never understand good guys, if this is what they’re in for then I’ll stick to slaughter for cash, thanks.”

“You’re far too brave with that mouth, Lupin.”

“Oh, please. At least I embrace my criminal tendencies, when are you going to own up to the governor that you lead the mob, hm? Thought so.”

“You could be my right hand you know. You’d live in luxury.”

“For the hundredth time I’m not interested in getting involved in whatever is going on between your gang and Dumbledore’s. I’m quite happy in my solitude.”

“Not for much longer. You’ve been quite close to Black as I understand it?”

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Not any more I’m afraid. There’s many things people are willing to forgive, but somehow I don’t see him getting over the fact that I killed the only relative he liked.”

“True.”

“I nee done more favour from you Tom.”

“Remus-“

“Please. I’ll owe you one. Do you really want to pass that up?”

“What is it?”

“I want Pettigrew transferred to Cell Block B, and have Mr Orion Black informed that if he ever tires to hurt Sirius again, I’ll kill him myself, and to one up your career as a personal thanks from me to you, check inside Malfoy and Snape’s mattress. Top left corner. There’s a drugs bust in there worth a promotion or two, don’t you think?”

“Never took you for a snitch.”

“Not a snitch, just a businessman. There is such thing as honour among criminals, but when one tries to kill another, it can be quickly overturned I think.”

“Just get in your cell Lupin we’ve been talking too long already.”

Remus smiled and thanked the warden before walking back to his cell only to find it empty. The immediate concern and fear he felt was overwhelming and he instantly found himself bolting from the cell until he collided with James and they both fell to the floor with groans. James rubbed his arse as he got up and looked surprised as he looked at Remus. “You can’t be here they transferred you to the Wack shack. Oh, I’m hallucinating aren’t I? Fucking Christ haven’t been hit that hard since-“

“Good thing to know you don’t lose your head under stress, Prongs. Where is Sirius? I need to see that he’s okay.”

“About that…”

“James, you were supposed to look after him what happened?”

“We had an argument about you and Peter and I went to try and find you so that you could tell him I was right, that Peter was dangerous. You were gone for three days, Rem.”

“I though tit was a few hours.”

“Well it wasn’t. I stayed by his side for the first two, never let him leave my sight after what you said, but then I stormed off in the heat of an argument and next thing I know, he’s at the side of Junior and-“

“Where is he, James?”

“I took him to the infirmary.” 

They both then sped off back to the infirmary and were not allowed in so had to watch through the glass as Sirius was given anaesthetic and laid down so the doctors could examine his wounds. They stayed until the harmless procedure was over and the guard said one of them was allowed in but they would be watched through the glass. Remus just told James to go back and he sat with Sirius himself until he woke up. The guilt Remus felt looking at Sirius’ unconscious body, and seeing the blistering, infected scars on his chest and arms was paramount. Sirius got hurt and it was his fault. Again.

“Remus...?”

“Sirius thank god you’re alright.” He immediately without thinking ducked down and kissed Sirius then uncharacteristically pulled away shyly. “I- Sorry about that you don’t want things like that anymore I understand I mean I am a really bad person after all so it’s okay that you-“

“I wasn’t going to break up with you. I know it’s fucking mental, but I just wanted to talk about it. I was angry and upset and confused but I should never have brought up your parents without hard evidence. It was wrong of me. I just don’t understand, Remus. Why did you do those things? Why did you kill the only family I truly had left?”

Remus took a deep breath and looked away from Sirius because he knew he was going to get emotional and he didn’t want Sirius to see that, even if it was going to be inevitable in the small room. “When I was contracted to your uncle, I originally declined. I never go for demanding clientele you see and your father was rather demanding. He continuously got in touch with me and got more and more frustrated when he realised there was not one thing in the world he could give me that I wanted from him, and not one thing in the world I cared enough about to threaten me with. He realised eventually that he needed a change of attitude and then he asked me nicely and I still declined which is where you come in. h e told me he was desperate because his eldest son was being abused by a powerful man and he couldn’t do anything about it. I thought that maybe if I did something like this, saved a boy from being assaulted, it would make up for some of the things I’ve done, so I accepted. It was only after I killed the man that I realised that was not the case at all. He sent you there on that day, you father, to have you witness the death of the only one you loved in your family, but I didn’t know. I only saw you after I shot him. I watched it happen as if in slow motion, and I immediately regretted it. You where around my age, I could tell, and I had done this to you. You chose that as much I chose to be orphaned. I had to make sure I righted my wrongs. I protected you for so long after that. Every time your father would send a man after you they were killed by me first and a threat was sent back to Orion. He eventually realised he had no choice but to keep you alive and well, so I left you well alone. The story that I killed every man that was in my way to becoming the master assassin is not true. I killed them because they were in the way of you living your life, and it was my fault. I let myself be manipulated and I shouldn’t have. I should have known better. As for my parents, well… I was only one when it happened. I was at home when Fenrir had knocked down the door and killed my parents as a repercussion of them killing his own people. Assassination is in my blood, he used to tell me, and that’s how I was raised. A killer by a killer. I wanted to hate him for what he did, for denying me a normal life, but I hated them more for bringing me into the world in their situation, it was cruel and selfish and no child should grow up to be what I became, and I couldn’t let that happen to you. That emotion when I let that bullet go, I couldn’t watch it dwindle from you. I kept you alive and the more emotion I saw when protecting you, the more I realised how much I wanted it, and not just it but you. For years, my mission to protect you grounded me, even if you didn’t know I was there, but I knew nothing could ever happen so I backed off when I was certain you were safe. And here we are.”

Remus could feel the traitorous tears running down his face and didn’t turn to Sirius until he felt a soft hand envelop his. He then looked over and saw Sirius had watery eyes too, and then Sirius sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed so he was facing Remus and pulled him forward into and embrace. With Sirius height on the bed, they could perfectly rest their faces in the other’s shoulder and did so as Remus wept and Sirius ran a soothing hand up and down his back while keeping the other firmly around his waist. “I’m sorry I let them hurt you Sirius.”

“Well now we’re equal, yeah? You’ve got scars and I’ve got tattoos. We’re both imperfect, which makes us perfect for each other.”

“Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

Remus chuckled and stayed close to Sirius until they were forced to part by the guard outside. Both were just immensely glad the other was okay. Sirius was granted well enough to leave the infirmary, and as they hobbled back to their cell leaning on each other, Remus explained that Peter would be transferred tomorrow and that they would be somewhat safe for the time being. Sirius vowed to never ever let Remus leave his side, and Remus promised to always be there for Sirius no matter what when they got back to the cell, which made James roll his eyes. Peter was nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly, and if he got transferred with a black eye tomorrow well no one had to know why. With just the three of them left, all that was left now was to plan what they were going to do when they got out.


End file.
